FIFTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, one of the final documents of the Second Vatican Council contained these words: ‘Humanity judges rightly that by his intellect he surpasses the material universe, for we share in the light of the divine mind. By relentlessly employing his talents through the ages we have indeed made
Continue readingJesus Christ demonstrated great power. Pope Benedict XVI emeritus enlightens us on this special power unlike any other. But in what does this ‘power’ of Jesus Christ the King consist? It is not the power of the kings or the great people of this world; it is the divine power
Continue reading‘Human virtues acquired by education, by deliberate acts and by a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts are purified and elevated by divine grace. With God’s help, they forge character and give facility in the practice of the good. The virtuous person is happy to practice them’. This is a quotation
Continue readingREMEMBRANCE SUNDAY takes place as always on the Sunday in November closest to the 11th, so this year it will be on this coming Sunday, the 8th of November. The traditional annual service at the Cenotaph is still taking place, but for the first time in just over a hundred
Continue readingSOME OF YOU will recognise this picture as being of a cemetery in Poland at this time of year: filled with candles and other religious objects as an act of prayer for those buried there. I don’t know whether under current restrictions this tradition is possible this weekend. All over
Continue readingWELCOME! Last Saturday at 2.30 in the afternoon I was very blessed to celebrate a Mass of Baptism and Confirmation. On this memorable occasion, which we would normally have celebrated earlier in the year at the Easter vigil, but due to the pandemic was delayed, four people were received into
Continue readingThere is a lovely story told about Pauline Baynes who was invited to illustrate the pictures for the book by C.S. Lewis ‘The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.’ Pauline said that she had great difficulty drawing Aslam the lion; as she would break down and cry and could not finish
Continue readingThese are the opening lines of a poem on lockdown and relates the experience of a resident of HMP Edinburgh. It is one of many poems submitted after prisoners were invited to express their feelings through verse. Freedom, in the sense of the unrestrained enjoyment of natural rights, is something
Continue reading‘Christian tradition has never recognised the right to private property as absolute and untouchable: “On the contrary, it has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole of creation: the right to private property is subordinated to
Continue readingLate September and early October is a time when we are reminded by the Church of the importance and significance of angels. On 29 September we celebrate the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels, and on 2nd October we do the same for the memorial of The Holy
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